Entrepreneurs

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that Australians no longer travel to tick boxes. We are travelling to reconnect with place, with people, and with how travel makes us feel.

From rich lists and tech entrepreneurs to the safest countries in the world – here are the 10 stories that Forbes readers loved in 2025.

Founded in 2017 by Hayley and Andy Worley, Sheet Society has become one of Australia’s fastest-growing bedding brands. Now, the company is entering its next chapter with a national retail rollout – and giving ‘room service’ a new meaning.

Bruna Papandrea says the television show she executive produced, Big Little Lies, revealed a long-overlooked gap in television: compelling, women-led stories.

Haléau, the debut brand from former Gritty Pretty founder and beauty influencer Eleanor Pendleton, reached six figures in under a month – the result of three years, $200,000 and a few ‘calculated risks’.

Nick Mowbray is working from home, a 12-bedroom mansion in Coatesville, New Zealand. It’s the former abode of cyber-renegade Kim Dotcom, and it’s here that Dotcom was arrested by heavily armed police in 2012.

Founder-turned-psychologist Byron McCaughey is reframing how Australia’s entrepreneurs think about success with Sublime Studio, a membership for mental fitness.

Putting real women first, simplifying beauty, and telling it like it is has made Bobbi Brown a TikTok sensation and one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People.” Here is why she’s resonates with a new generation.

The founders of Leonardo.AI and Active Hotels chipped in on the raise, which will help to launch up to 4 new ventures a year.

Almost 15 years ago, 20 Australian founders reached into their pockets and created a $200k community fund. Over the last year, Startmate portfolio companies have added a billion dollars in value, and secured another international celebrity investor.